TSA stepping up plans to swab palms at South Florida airports

Machines being used that can detect explosive material

March 4, 2010|By Jennifer Sorentrue, The Palm Beach Post

For Stephanie Birnberg, the test was quick and painless.

The Pittsburgh resident and her husband, Jacob, were passing through Miami International Airport on their way to El Salvador on Wednesday when they were randomly screened for explosives as part of beefed-up security measures at airports across the country.

The couple was asked to hold out their palms so that officers with the Transportation Security Administration could swab for explosives.

The test, which took a few seconds to complete, was performed as the couple waited in line to get to the security checkpoint.

"I would rather have them do it than not," Stephanie Birnberg said. "If they can pick up extra people, it's great. I'd rather them do that than some of the more invasive things."

In the wake of the attempted Christmas attack on a Detroit-bound Northwest Airlines flight, the TSA stepped up its efforts to swab passengers' hands and luggage to detect explosive material. The random screenings are being used across the country, including international airports in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

TSA officers have been swabbing passengers for explosives at security checkpoints since 2008, said Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the agency. Last week, however, TSA officers began randomly swabbing passengers waiting at gates and at other secure airport areas, she said.

"It is one of the many layers of security," Koshetz said. "They all form a formidable barrier to terrorists."

During the test, passengers are asked to hold out their hands. A paper-thin swab is rubbed across each palm three times. The swab is fed into a machine, which takes 8 seconds to analyze it for small particles of explosive materials.

Passengers who set off the alarm are put through additional screening and security measures.

The Department of Homeland Security, of which TSA is a part, has received $15 million in stimulus money to pay for 400 swab-analyzing machines, known as ETD units, short for Explosive Trace Detection. Those machines remain at security checkpoints.

President Barack Obama also has included $39 million in his 2011 budget to buy 800 portable ETD machines, which cost about $45,000 each and can be easily moved throughout an airport. The portable units, which sit on a cart, are the size of a large suitcase.

During a 45-minute period while reporters observed on Wednesday at Miami International, only one passenger caused the machine's alarm to sound. The man was immediately escorted from the checkpoint line for additional screening.

It was determined that the man had been in contact with chemicals that were not explosives, and he was cleared to fly, Koshetz said. Certain medications can cause the machine to show a positive result, she said.

Most passengers didn't seem to mind the additional scrutiny.

"It's just part of flying," said Tom Beatty, who lives in Stillwater, Okla., but was passing through on his way to Venezuela.

But some, like John Benziger, considered the measure "overkill."

Benziger was traveling home to Belgrade, Maine, from Nicaragua, where he was doing volunteer work.

"Our culture is based on fear," he said. "The level of risk is not that high."